What is your steady, secure and fairly paid job?

[NW2SW]

There are loads of careers out there that I’ve never heard of. Possibly not the most exciting on paper, but in reality offer job satisfaction, fairly paid and life balance. What are they?

I’m approaching mid 30s, earning £40k in digital marketing and I hate it. Between the constant imposter syndrome, toxic work places, unrewarding work and very few hard skills - I just cannot see myself sticking this out for another 30 years.

I’m happy to retrain, so long as it’s possible part time and isn’t massively pricey. I have a BA/MA related to my current job, so I’m not looking for another degree. I’d like to keep as much of my salary as possible, or at least know I can progress back to it fairly quickly.

Some of the careers that I’m looking into are; dental hygienist, mortgage broker, archivist...

I know the golden ticket atm is to learn to code, but I just don’t think that’s what I’m looking for. I sit chained to a computer all day as it is.

*65 MILE not mins

I’ve built my career in HR and love it. My role isn’t heavily people-facing, I deal mainly with data.

I also do a lot on the diversity and inclusion side which has been brilliant. Industry is typically white male-dominated but now we have 50% of the board and executive team made up of women (also trying to do more on ethnic diversity but the city where our HA is based isn’t very diverse so we’re looking at how a location change can help that), we have a flexible working pattern to support working parents/carers, various networks for employees such as an LGBT+ group, employees with disabilities etc. It’s made for a very diverse and inclusive workplace, and I’m proud that I’ve contributed to that.
We also do a lot of work with schools to encourage girls to look at studying STEM, and also with schools in economically disadvantaged areas to encourage the students to remain in education.

There can be internal politics, but I don’t think there’s a single job without some element of empire building/politics.

I’m senior, on a high salary, have loads of flexibility, and love my job.

What a lot of people don’t realise about HR is that you need a great head for numbers. I don’t mean when it comes to salaries etc as that’s very straightforward, but when it comes to org design and workforce planning. There’s a lot of data so you need strong Excel and analytical skills.

A lot of large organisations also have dedicated Corporate Social Responsibility teams which cover things like community engagement, supporting schools in the area etc. It usually sits either in HR, or Comms.
Again, interesting and fulfilling.

In terms of industries, utility companies are great to work for. People will always need electricity, water, etc.

HE admin is quite secure and ok paid. Moving up is not always easy as people tend to get comfy in their roles..

What about moving sideways into digital product management or service design? Lots of opportunity in both public and private sectors.

I am considering that @rallytog1 my limited experience of PM has seemed to entail babysitting Devs, but it wasn't the healthiest workplace tbh.

Saying that I did implement a digital platform migration in a previous role and although stressful and challenging, I really enjoyed the technical aspect and working with Developers.

Thank you @IamTomHanks atm I'm officially only fulfilling number 3, but I think I have experience that's applicable to the others.

Can I just also say, I've asked this Q in several guises on different forums over the last months and nowhere has been as helpful and thoughtful as this thread. Thank you so much.

Grade 7 Critical Care Nurse, currently on mat leave.

@NW2SW

Thank you *@IamTomHanks* atm I'm officially only fulfilling number 3, but I think I have experience that's applicable to the others.

Then I would start applying. :) Personally I really love what I do, it's Comms/Marketing but because you're clients are your fellow employees there's less backstabbing and egos.

Oh if you are more interested in the digital side of archiving you could look into more information management/security/records management? That's a much much faster growing field and is only going to get bigger. Unlike the traditional side of archiving where jobs are pretty limited to councils, and some heritage attractions, including cathedrals/public schools, most large private and public bodies need information governance to some degree. Often you would need a masters at some stage to progress fully (could do an archivist one or an info management one) but there are probably some jobs you could do without it.

You'd be looking at managing the life cycle of documents and records, and allowing/restricting access/answering FOI requests, etc. You'd need a good knowledge of the GDPR, DPA, and so on . Maybe have a look at the National Archives website or the ICO or just search record management/information governance jobs to see what is offered?

If you meant just digitisation of paper records (the interesting historic ones!) then that's usually done by a digitisation assistant at best, on even less money than the archivist, or more usually by volunteers, sorry!

Thanks @IamTomHanks less ego sounds ideal 

Oh interesting @thevassal my current job deals very closely with GDPR, so that could be a good avenue - I'll take a look at this area!

I work in the civil nuclear industry. Huge variety of jobs role with real job security. Very fair pay and opportunity for advancement.

Hi OP, I’m in HE admin (analysis) and could have written your exact post!

I’m on £40k at the top of my band in a niche dept and have been struggling to progress up for the past 3 years. I’ve volunteered in other depts, taken on a mentor, all the feedback is that I’m great just other applicants had more job specific experience. In our institution there’s a huge bottleneck at my grade to progress up and I’m finding it so frustrating.

I’m looking into careers in law and adult mental health atm (at the scoping phase!) on the basis that I could do a law or psych conversion part time for 2 years and look to progress out when my kids start school. The MH stuff has more funding available. I’m talking to friends in those areas and hoping to volunteer during Mat leave.

My priorities like you are some hard skills and something I could earn 30k+ rapidly without a ceiling of £50k (I don’t want to be in the same place in another 7/8yrs). Also I need to stay local which is a challenge in the SW.

Also- thanks for posting! I’ve been wondering if I’m a bit chronically discontent and I should just kick back and enjoy the decent salary and conditions without worrying about the next 30

Haaaaa my steady, secure and fairly paid job is ...digital marketing

Why dental hygiene? It really sticks out as totally different to your skill set. Do you know much about it? I think these days people train as dental therapists-- rather than hygienists which is a full time degree course so neither quick or cheap to retrain in. Happy to be corrected.

If you are a great communicator and want a secure job have you thought about the funeral industry. Seriously, two things in life are certain: tax and death.

I work in Treasury. I'm a cash manager at an oil company. I earn £50K. I have a BSC in Business Economics currently doing some treasury courses paid for by work to advance my career. I started off in banking 5 years ago and worked my way up. I've been earning circa 47K since I was 25 working for a ftse 100 (now 28). Since I've moved out of London and not willing to do the longer commute as I have a DD and another on the way. My earning potential where I live and work (Kent) is not as much as it would be in London but that's fine as I work 20 minutes drive away from home. Drop off DD on the way to nursery, though I've been WFH since March and will do so until I go on mat leave in January. My DH is a high earner as a contractor (over 100K) in IT so he commutes into London.

I want to add that some peoples jobs are secure because they are in a heavily unionised sector or because when they started their employer gave out better employment package and terms in their contract so newer employees might not necessarily get the perks or flexibilities older ones have.

I’m a specialist nurse. I work part time at the mo but if I was full time I’d be earning about £45K - some of this is due to unsocial hours plus I work in a London hospital and get inner London weighting.

I love my job. It’s so varied and my team is fabulous. A lot of us are friends outside of work and quite a few of the younger crowd house share.

It’s Hard Work and we were utterly slammed during the first wave of covid but I’m so proud to do the job I do. I just wish Boris and Matt recognised it too......

Good luck in whatever you choose to do!

@User56770987 exactly for that reason, I'm interested to know what I'm missing. I've done a sensible lateral move (market research > marketing) and found myself dealing with the same frustrations and ceilings.

@OhTheRoses yes I have actually, I think it could be hugely personally rewarding. I didn't research in-depth though as salaries seemed to cap at £30k and that's a 25% pay cut I'm unable to take. I'm also not overly keen on being a business owner/employer myself. That was for a funeral director though, maybe I've missed other potential opportunities.

Haha @Ohalrightthen! Steady? are you in a specialist area? My network/LinkedIn feed is like a career graveyard atm for fellow marketers.

Heh, I learned to code. Software dev now. I really love it but I tend not to recommend it to others, as it's become a bit of a joke answer these days. But, y'know. It is there and it is realistic. I've known QAs and BAs get into development quite easily by upskilling and already having some tech competency.

I have a digital background as a developer and content manager, but now in a senior role as an information systems director earning ~six figures, my role is more about project management and client/stakeholder wrangling.

I'd recommend looking at PM qualifications, particularly Agile methodologies, and considering an account management role in the digital/tech industry? Your people and marketing skills will be of use there and, although I started out as a developer, it's not a prerequisite.

Sorry to hijack this thread but do the civil service have open days for recruitment of attend career fairs.